23/24 League Predictions

[Tony]

23/24 promises to be one of the most competitive seasons ever in the NLS. Where will we finish? With just five PSFs in which we only fielded a likely stating XI in the last game at Salisbury, it' has been pretty hard to judge where we are versus the opposition. The squad looks better on paper but looks heavily reliant on Bloomfield and Seymour for the goals threat that we lacked all of last season. One goal apiece in pre season. Any long term injury or loss of form for either could be problematic and I feel we could do with some back up in that department. Rob Hall looks to be a key player in supplying the chances but is not usually a big volume goalscorer himself so we need the likes of Gray, Deadfield, CKB and Donaldson to up their efforts to get on the scoresheet. At the back we are pretty settled and with the addition of Cheadle should be able to switch easily between a back three or four as necessary. I still feel we require a tough DM as at times last season we got over-powered by some of the more direct strong running sides in the league e.g. Farnborough.
Looking at the opposition, I think Torquay and Yeovil will be vying for top spot, Chelmsford, Dartford, Worthing all look as if they will be competitive again as will Farnborough and Braintree. Eastbourne are an unknown quantity despite their new investor boost and full-time status. Only Maidstone and Dover look to be in a bit of disarray with most other sides recruiting well. Of the promoted sides some are a bit unknown to me but usually they have momentum from being settled so at least one will survive with some ease.
Our own objective must be to be challenging for a play off spot. Starting with seven consecutive away games is not exactly conducive to that objective so we are going to need a few away wins if we are not going to start off on the wrong foot and optimism will quickly evaporate if we find ourselves at the wrong end of the table. Over the longer term our fortunes will depend heavily on our ability to score goals above the rate we witnessed last season. A statement of the obvious I know but without it we are more likely to be mid table at best. Of course the squad can be changed radically during the season so what we start with is rarely what we finish with so it will be a test of management to make the tactical and strategic changes necessary and the new owners to supply the financial wherewithal to support the targets set. The home pitch situation is a worry. We need a much better surface than we saw last year if Mel's passing game is going to work as planned. Nine 3G pitches in the division so we should we some benefit from that.

[EastTerracer]

I'm not sure pre-season told us much. Although we should have more goal threat with Bloomfield and Seymour I am not sure either bring the hold up play and distribution of Clifton that IMO made a huge difference towards the end of last season. Vazagashvili looked useful in pre-season (though maybe not first choice) and Rob Hall should hopefully add threat from free kicks which we have missed since Kyron Farrell departed. Shane Dunne is perhaps the tough DM Tony is looking for.

Challenging for playoffs has to be the target but that will require momentum to be built in the way it was in the latter part of the season since there should be a lot of competiton for those places.

The bookies see Torquay and Yeovil as clear favourites followed by Eastbourne with a whole bunch of teams on similar odds to us: Dartford, H&W, Chelmsford, Worthing, Farnborough, Maidstone and St Albans.

[Lord Elpus]

It's certainly going to be an interesting one.
The league position after the first seven games will play a huge part but I suspect we'll be in about mid table after that. If we're not though, and we end the season fighting against relegation again, then valid questions may end up being asked.
Yeovil and Torquay will undoubtedly be strong, as they ought to be, but there will always be a couple of surprise sides. I'd be surprised if one was Eastbourne though...some of their signings are a bit odd to say the least.

[Tony]

I think the bookies have just looked at the Eastbourne new money and projected top five. I think it will take time for their new regime to settle in and see them somewhere close to us in expectations. Not long to find out.

[TW10]

We start with pretty much the same team
as last season with the addition of Hall, Seymour and Bloomfield. As mentioned earlier Adrian Clifton was a massive player for us, the ball stuck to him and was a very good footballer. Let’s hope Bloomfield is a good replacement but it is a tough ask. We saw nothing of Barzey last year after a brilliant pre season but i think he will be a big loss. Getting to the play offs would be a massive achievement for this group of players.

[Shepperton Supporter]

I think these thoughts from fellow contributors are spot on and Tony’s is very much in my way of thinking. Having to play all are opening games away, if results don’t go our way, could put pressure on the club for the rest of the season, hopefully my pessimism will be groundless.

[HamptonMad]

Yeovil and Torquay to get promotion. Slough Taunton & Aveley to go down. Hampton wont win any of there first 7 games. Thats why we are 25/1 for promotion.

[EastTerracer]

We start with pretty much the same team
as last season with the addition of Hall, Seymour and Bloomfield. As mentioned earlier Adrian Clifton was a massive player for us, the ball stuck to him and was a very good footballer. Let’s hope Bloomfield is a good replacement but it is a tough ask.

Bloomfield brings pace and goal threat but from seeing him in preseason does not look to have the same ability to control the ball and lay it off. That was Clifton's forte and it enabled other players to commit forwards in the knowledge he would typically retain possesion and link up with someone. We'll see.

[TW3 Beaver]

Yeovil and Torquay to get promotion. Slough Taunton & Aveley to go down. Hampton wont win any of there first 7 games. Thats why we are 25/1 for promotion.

14/1 on Bet365.

Torquay 3/1
Yeovil 5/1
Eastbourne Borough 10/1
Farnborough 12/1
Maidstone 14/1
Dartford 14/1
Hampton and Richmond Borough 14/1
Worthing 14/1
St. Albans 16/1
Havant and Waterlooville 16/1
Braintree 18/1
Chelmsford 18/1
Bath City 33/1
The Massive Tonbridge Angels 33/1
Weston Super Mare 33/1
Truro 40/1
Welling 40/1
Hemel Hempstead 50/1
Weymouth 50/1
Dover 66/1

[Mucky knees]

Yeovil and Torquay to get promotion. Slough Taunton & Aveley to go down. Hampton wont win any of there first 7 games. Thats why we are 25/1 for promotion.

Wanna bet you don't know anything you don't go any of our games HM

COME UP TO ME AT EAST MOLESEY CC SAY HELLO TO ME ON SATURDAY!!!

MK

[tones]

Brilliant. The season hasn't even started and the fans are already saying we don't have the firepower and where are the goals going to come from. Doesn't the club learn anything from season to season. If we don't score goals it doesn't matter how good the defence is we will only be see a run of 0-0 draws. For heaven's sake spend some cash on a proven goalscorer so at least we might win some of our matches, home or away!

[HamptonLifer5]

I believe that within the squad there are many goals, and many to come from the front 3 of Bloomfield, Hall and Seymour. I do think that these goalscoring combinations are yet to be found by the group. With the hullabaloo around the pitch and the ground preparation, it seems like not as much of the focus has been on the pre-season. The week that the squad returned to Pre-season training, most teams were playing their first pre-season fixture. Having only played 5 games, it is a concern that we haven't found our goalscoring combo and strongest starting XI in that time, which was always going to be difficult in this length of time. One thing we have learnt however, is that none of the new boys are to be taking pens, and that last seasons squad have shown signs of redeeming themselves after the Hanworth shoot-out! The start of the season at Eastbourne was always going to be a tough ask in any case with their new owners etc, but if we can get 4 points from our first 3 games, that would be a VERY positive platform to build from, especially given our early run of away games. I think Torquay will top the division, and Ourselves to finish in a respectable 8th place, only just missing out on Play-offs.